It turned out to be a longer day than expected due to the World Cup game between Italy and Uruguay ... now unfortunately Italy lost, but what I found interesting was that I had never been in a country with a vested interest in the outcome of a World Cup game, where you could sit outside and literally feel the game being watched and hear the citizens' every reaction. But I digress ... today it was an olive oil farm, three wineries, two meals, a glass or two in a vineyard and of course, quite a bit of wine ... let's take a look:
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| Our day starts bright and early right here |
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| Because of this flyer promoting the winner of the best Olive Oil in Italy |
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| Looking in through the portal to the farm |
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| We walk through this courtyard |
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In this lobby - with countless awards ...
we're looking even more forward to this |
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Olive oil making has similarities to winemaking -
after hand harvesting they go into this hopper |
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| Then into the sorter / de-stemmer and crusher |
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Which turns everything from the skin to the pit into a paste
that gets mixed in this machine |
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And this machine extracts the oil ...
pictured here with Romina Segoloni (owner) |
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| And here's the last step before ... |
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| the holding tanks ... |
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| and bottling - some of the best olive oil in all of Italy. |
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Mono Variety: San Felice ...
fruity, floral and spicy; delicate on the palate |
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Mono Variety: Moraiolo ...
intense, thicker, richer with fresh cut grass notes |
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Emozione (mixed variety) ... Best Olive Oil in Italy ...
pretty with sunflower seed, smooth, spicy and flavourful |
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| And here's the awards to prove it. |
Town of Bevagna ...
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From there we are dropped off in the town of Bevagna ...
where the medieval festival is in full swing: each quarter of the town
takes on an aspect of medieval living |
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| One of the medieval squares |
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| Where we find the candlestick-maker's shop |
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| and the spice / herb / apothecary shop |
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| ... and the distillery (very important) |
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| This little guy followed us around for a few blocks |
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| We're then picked up at one of the gates of Bevagna |
Perticaia ...
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| And after getting lost a few times we ended up here at Perticaia |
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| Looking out over their clay soil planted vineyards |
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| And a look at the stoney soil vineyard - a bit of a rarity in these parts |
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And a quick peak at the emerging grapes of Trebbiano Spoletino:
the "wings" on the left and right of the bunch are also known as 'clown feet' |
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| Such a gorgeous spot |
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Alessandro has been the winemaker since 2008 toured us around
the vineyard and the winery |
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| With this little guy close behind on our heals |
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| Perticaia = hand plow (representing the old ways) |
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Cool thing: around the property there are 10 types of rosemary and
6 types of lavender ... in beautiful bush form |
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| And it adorns the walls ... (rosemary) |
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| And rings the property (rosemary) |
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| A look from the balcony at Perticaia |
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| and the other side. |
Lunch and Wines at Perticaia ...
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| Lunch begins with Strangozzi (no egg noodles) with a faux meat sauce |
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2011 Rosso & 2009 Rossa Riserva - both 4-star wines
Rosso: fruity with a touch of spice
Riserva: round and full, gentle pepper and spice with dried cherry and raspberry |
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| The cheese, prosciutto and sun-dried tomato plate |
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Two Vintages of Sagrantino: 2009 & 2010
"2009": baked sweet cherry-strawberry with floral/violets, touch plummy - rough and rugged (*** 1/2+)
"2010": dark fruit, good acidity, sweet tannins, cassis, blackberry - complex, elegant and supple (****+) |
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Then, owner Guido, who joined us for lunch, and has been making wine since 1968,
finally opened his own dream-winery of 'Perticaia' in 2000
QUOTE: When talking about the 1968 vintage when someone said it was a terrible vintage:
"1968 wasn't a terrible vintage; it was a very terrible vintage" |
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Brings out this 2005 which (we are told) is similar to the 2010 vintage-wise:
it has elegance and power with great structure and backbone
(at this time the vines were only 5 years old) |
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Here Konrad Ejbich shows all three vintages in a glass:
"it's an expression of the land at the time, by a human being of the time" |
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| One more look over the vineyards before we leave. |
Antonelli ...
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Our first sight at Antonelli - and why not it's 28C and this guy was in the shade -
ah the life ... |
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We were then officially greeted by Filippo - 4th generation Antonelli and the
first involved directly with the winery (pictured here with Konrad and Roberto) |
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| "I interrupted a long line of lawyers to be a farmer" - Filippo Antonelli |
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We then take the elevator
(shown here being given the thumbs up by Roberto) |
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To the tank room: these are double tanks ...
one on top of the other allowing wine to flow from one to the other |
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Our tour includes a peak at the "Cucina":
where wine pairing and cooking classes happen |
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| A walk down the long driveway |
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| To the main 'gate' - which is prominently displayed on the front label of the bottle |
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Like so ...
This rarity of Montefalco: 2009 Contrario - is 100% Sagrantino from young vines, no oak
with short fermentation and shows the fruity side of the grape with seemingly sweet red
and black fruit and good acidity: lively and fresh (*** 1/2+) |
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While cleaning out his car we catch Felippo with something even rarer
than un-oaked Sagrantino ... he's quick to blame the kids |
Arnaldo-Caprai ...
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| Arrival at Arnaldo-Caprai, established in 1971 |
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| Complete with play area for mom and dad ... |
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| ... and one for the kids |
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| A display showing the different soil types in their vineyards |
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| We are then whisked into the vineyard itself to this platform |
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| With this view of the winery below |
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| and this other vineyard (to my left) |
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Marco Caprai talks about the winery and
various social initiatives they have undertaken |
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| with this spread, while we tasted the two whites of the property |
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Best of which was the 2013 Grecante:
a 100% Grechetto with floral, citrus, peach pit and lovely tropicality
all with a tinge of bitterness on the finish (*** 1/2+) |
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| As the sunsets on Caprai, so does our visit to the winery |
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| One last look at our "table on the mount" |
Dinner and Wines ...
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| And it's back to Bevagna, where Marco is taking us to |
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| La Trattoria di Oscar |
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Owned by this man, Filippo Artioli, in the Piazza del Cirone -
his ragu was written up in Saveur Magazine, May 2014 (pg. 44) -
pictured here with his wife and co-owner, Enza |
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We all sit down - and what a dinner it was - as you will soon see
clockwise from left: Konrad Ejbich, Roberto Staiano, Marco Caprai, yours truly |
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| Ricotta cheese flan and salted cod with chick peas |
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| Chianina beef carpaccio shasimi with beef liver topping |
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paired with these two wines: 2011 Rosso & 2008 Rosso Riserva
"2011 Rosso" - light red fruit, easy drinking with a touch of pepper (*** 1/2+)
"2009 Riserva" - spicy, earthy, with blackberry, cassis,
a nice tannin grip and some peppery notes towards the finish (****) |
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| Organic egg with goat cheese cream and summer truffles |
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| Ravioli, ricotta cheese and aromatics herbs in a fresh tomato sauce |
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| 2008 Collapiano: lovely dark fruit with balanced acidity and tannins (****+) |
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| The famous Tagliatelle with Chianina Ragu Sauce - I could eat this all night |
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| Fillet of pork, BBQ'ed with sweet spices |
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2009 "25" Sagrantino
a wine originally made for the 25th Anniversary of the winery in 1996 (from the 1993 vintage)
using a special selection of barrels. Wine proved so popular that it lives on today (****)
Older vines typically go into this wine. |
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We end hands-down the best meal of the week with this
chocolate parfait with mango and strawberry coulis ... truly decadent |
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Filippo: "How was your meal"
Konrad: "I'm going to call my lawyer ... to tell him how good this was" |
The day ends around 1 AM ... it's been a long day and one that should be the end of our journey;
but as you will see on Day 4, Roberto and I decided we needed to go to one more place before we leave ... and awaken disgustingly early to do so.
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